Management at Emporia’s Riverview Condominiums is not commenting on a complaint from a resident accusing the complex of not taking care of a bat problem.
Alexa Houston tells KVOE News she has been at Riverview in the 600 block of Valley Drive since late summer 2021 and things “went great” until a bat flew into her apartment a month ago because of some holes in the siding. She says she was assured the issues would be fixed, both in her building and in at least one other building at the complex. According to her, they haven’t. Instead, three more bats came into her apartment over the last month, including one this past weekend.
Houston says she was bitten in Sunday’s incident and had to go to Newman Regional Health for a rabies shot. She says management told her to expect a call Monday, only to find out there would be no contact until Wednesday at the earliest and there would be no effort to remove the bats “until they deem necessary.”
Houston also says this isn’t her first set of issues with a local Eucalyptus property. She says her time at Bluestem was marred by toilet flooding, including the spread of fecal matter in her apartment, and bedbugs. She then had similar issues with flooding and fecal matter at State Street Apartments.
Houston is considering legal action against Eucalyptus and will reach her decision by Tuesday.
Riverview is one of several local properties owned by Eucalyptus out of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Residents have been voicing concerns about living conditions for three years now, including drainage issues, unfixed water damage, roaches, bedbugs and sudden increases in rent.
The company was also nearly $500,000 behind on its property taxes between 2019-2021. With the Lyon County Courthouse closed Monday, there is no official word on whether Eucalyptus has caught up on its tax debt to the county. Calls to Eucalyptus corporate went to voice mail.
Eucalyptus tenants with issues need to reach out to City Housing Specialist Jeff Lynch at 343-4285 or go online to emporia-kansas.gov.